


Dinosaur Figurines and Sea Shells

by bravinto



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, M/M, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-10
Updated: 2014-06-10
Packaged: 2018-02-04 03:51:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1764535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bravinto/pseuds/bravinto
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An unexpected sleepover!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dinosaur Figurines and Sea Shells

**Author's Note:**

  * For [decadent_mousse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/decadent_mousse/gifts).



> Finally! After weeks of writing this, I finished my contribution to the robot AU decadentmousse and I were talking about :D

Hermann rolled into his room with a feeling that he would like to have a day off, if such a thing was possible for a household robot. Of course, Newton kept rambling of how much free time he was allowed and how understanding and progressive his masters were; but Hermann had doubts that this was the general situation. Newt’s employment seemed to be unique, and Hermann didn’t go out enough to know otherwise. Either way, he thought, it probably wasn’t the best idea to ask his master for a day off. Who knows how this might go. Even though Hermann felt very tired of bringing string cheese from the fridge several times a day. 

It’s not that it was such a difficult task; on the contrary – it was mundane and not challenging at all. To be honest, it was driving Hermann up the wall. So when his master finally let him go for the night, he was eager to log in and escape reality. 

“Dude, you are really cranky tonight”, Newt messaged him after a period of data exchange. “I can feel it in your code. What happened?” 

“Nonsense”, he replied, “my code is just the same as ever. But if I have to bring another string of cheese today, I might explode”. 

“Eh, so bad?” Newt asked with apparent sympathy. “I can visit you tomorrow if you want”. 

“I would be… glad if you did”. 

“The usual time?” 

“Yes”. 

Indigo, his master, habitually left for work around nine in the morning – which wasn’t all that early, to be honest (Indigo never failed to groan miserably about how devilishly early it was, however). It took Hermann about two hours to do all of his morning chores; so the ‘usual time’ stood for after eleven. By the time Newton showed up, Hermann had already finished his work and was waiting at the door. 

“We are watching awesome fun movies today!” Newt proclaimed after they exchanged greetings, opening one of his seemingly bottomless compartments and emptying it in the middle of the living room. 

A variety of small objects fell out: some screws and bolts, a tiny screwdriver, several stones, collectible dinosaur figurines, a tooth of unknown origin, portable data drives, a couple of ink bottles, an oil-stained handkerchief, and several other unidentifiable bits and pieces. Newt tinkered with his data drives and Indigo’s holovideo system, and soon they were both caught up in the world of science fiction, giant monsters and adventure. Time was flying by without Hermann noticing it. 

Suddenly, he froze. The noise he heard was unmistakable: his master’s sloppy car parking technique and the voice-lock opening the door. Hermann and Newt stared at each other with wide eyes. Hermann shut down the holovideo and hurried Newt away from the living room into the far corner of the house. 

“Here, quick!”he hissed and pushed Newton into his closet. “Shouldn’t see you!” 

“Hey, wait - ” Newt began, but Hermann shut the door, whispering “Please be quiet, I beg you!” and hurried to the entrance hall. 

“Hermann!” Indigo greeted him, kicking off their shoes awkwardly, “I’m early, tomorrow is our company’s anniversary, so we have a short day!. . Sorry I forgot to tell you… Kinda forgot about it myself, haha… Is there any food? I’m not alone”. 

And to his horror, Hermann saw a whole crowd entering the hallway behind Indigo. His master’s infamous colleagues, presumably. 

“Heat up something, Hermann, buddy! We’re starving!” 

Suddenly Hermann was caught up in cooking dinner for seven people (how they all managed to pack into one car, remained a mystery), setting up equipment for video games and music, opening beer bottles and taking the empty ones away. Not to mention the endless requests to bring more string cheese. 

Each time he passed the closet on his way around the house, he listened attentively to what was going on inside; but after being caught sneaking out and forcefully shoved back in a couple of times, Newt was thankfully quiet in there. 

Yes, there was a chance that he could escape unnoticed by Indigo and their uncontrollable guests, but it was slim. Hermann couldn’t risk being exposed not only to his master, but also to the majority of their friends. It was unthinkable, the mere idea made him cringe on the inside. 

When he finally had a free moment, he rolled into the closet and rested against the shut door. Apparently, Newton occupied himself by getting familiar with Hermann’s network interface, which was somewhat impolite, but still better than if he were bored and noisy. 

“It looks like they are going to party all night long”, Hermann said. “I have just ordered more pizza and beer”. 

“Then I can probably sneak out while they are so busy having fun”. 

“Absolutely not!” Hermann replied, barely keeping his voice down. “The house is crawling with these people, they will see you!” 

“Hey man, what’s up with that? Are you ashamed of me?!” 

“Shhhh, no, of course not, Newton. But I cannot predict the consequences, I cannot risk it!” 

“Alright, aright. Then what’s your plan?” 

“If you indeed have the whole day off, you may stay in my room tonight”, Hermann said, averting his gaze and feeling strangely awkward. 

He had never even had anyone but his master in this closet, let alone invited them to spend the night in there, together. He heard Newton shift in the small space. 

“Uh, for real? Like, stay in here? Uh, dude… Yes, of course! Why not! That’s a great idea!” Newt said enthusiastically. 

They stared at each other for a moment, and Hermann suddenly felt every wire inside of him that carried electricity current. Then…

“Hermann! String cheese, PLEASE!” 

He rolled his eyes, which somehow made Newt chuckle in a very inappropriate way. 

“Alright”, Newt said, “you go do your cheese duty, and I’ll hang out here and I promise I’ll be quiet as a mouse. Mind if I make a quick call from your station, tell the guys that I won’t be in tonight?” 

“Go ahead, I see you’ve made yourself quite at home already anyway”. 

And Hermann rolled out to face the growing demand for string cheese with Newton’s squeaky giggle still ringing in his sound receptors. 

The party was still going, if slowed down a bit, when Hermann felt it was safe to excuse himself – or, rather, disappear quietly and hope nobody would go looking for him. 

“I believe there is a chance they won’t notice you if you go now”, Hermann said. “Those who are awake are too preoccupied with each other”. 

He didn’t believe it, but he also didn’t want Newt to feel like he was being held hostage. 

“Um. I think I’m running low on battery”, Newt mumbled. 

“Oh, yes. Of course”, Hermann replied, barely able to conceal relief in his voice. 

He didn’t want Newt to leave. What a notion! He wouldn’t want Newt to leave uncharged, in the middle of the night (who knows, what horrors await a lone little robot out there!), still likely to be noticed by someone in the house; - and he also didn’t want Newt to leave him. He wasn’t sure what to make of it; but he was glad and relieved, regardless. 

“You are welcome to use my outlet”, Hermann prompted, gesturing at the electricity socket array at the back wall of the closet. 

The silence was awkward but not excruciatingly so. Hermann could hear the soft humming noise of Newt charging and going into the slower, calmer state. It felt… intimate. A little unnerving, but good. Hermann could see how he could get used to it (why would he get used to it?..). 

“You keep a star map in your room”, Newton said, his tone uncharacteristically slow and quiet. 

“Yes. I am interested in astronomy”. 

“Space nerd”, Newt mumbled. 

“Kaiju groupie”, Hermann replied not without fondness. 

“What are those?” Newton asked after a while looking up. 

The shelf above their sockets contained several objects that Hermann found discarded or rescued from the garbage: an old globe, a Rubik’s cube, a glass prism, magnet pyramids, several sea shells; and some other, more complex figures he printed out himself. 

“These are my geometric shapes”, he said. 

“What is your favourite shape?” 

The question caught him off-guard. Hermann liked the cubes (Indigo got the Rubik’s cube from somewhere but could not solve it and lost interest very fast; Hermann saved it from under the bed and spent a lot of time solving it over and over); he was fascinated by the light passing through the prism and dispersing into a rainbow; the spiral patterns of the shells spoke of the Great Design and Universe to him. But the sphere was probably his favourite: simple but all-encompassing; smooth and holding maximum volume within minimum surface. 

“Spheres”, Hermann said finally. “I like spheres”. 

They talked some more and then went quiet, humming softly, deep in their charging slumber. In the pale light of morning, when everybody is asleep, Newt will sneak out and Hermann will see him to the door and hold his hands for a brief moment before he starts to clean up. For now, somewhere in the house the music is still playing, the beer is going warm and stale in forgotten bottles, and two little robots are standing side by side in a tiny, welcoming room. 


End file.
